


Left In The Dark

by SugarAndSlice



Series: Deviation Detected [8]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Blind Character, Canon-Typical Violence, Connor Needs A Hug, Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Peaceful Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), teen for swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 09:54:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21116822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SugarAndSlice/pseuds/SugarAndSlice
Summary: Connor is left temporarily blind for five days, and he's not having a great time.





	Left In The Dark

“Hank, seriously, I’m fine.” Connor says with a chill tone, though his LED betrayed his calm façade with it’s red and yellow spirals. Hank sighs, lifting his hands off of Connor’s arms to let the android sit down on the couch without Hank’s guidance. Connor’s lower face showed that he was slightly annoyed, though the bandages over Connor’s eyes and upper face made it hard to read his full expression.

“Chris said you had your optical units damaged when you were on patrol, but he looked pretty shaken up and didn’t say anything else. Care to elaborate on what happened?” Hank asks as he sits down on his recliner. He had changed out of his Cyberlife jacket, since it had been covered in dirt and thirium, and was now wearing a large navy pullover hoodie with a design that was no longer distinguishable because it had been rubbed off in the wash accompanied by some loose-fitting sweatpants.

“Chris and I witnessed a man run out of a nearby bookstore with a large handful of display jewelry and ornaments, so naturally we pursued.” Connor explains. “I caught up to him quite quickly but we hadn’t realised that he was armed. He turned as I was about to tackle him and slashed at me with a knife. I proceeded to take him down and handcuff him before Chris had to continue since my vision failed.”

“Jesus,” Hank says. “Well the technician who looked over you said that your optical units will be finished with repairs on Saturday, so we can go pick those up then. She apologised for the time it was going to take but optical processors are finnicky, apparently.” Connor sighs and leans back on the couch, clearly upset. His LED goes to pure yellow for a moment before he winces and quickly lifts a hand to his face, groaning slightly as he puts it back down and the LED stays yellow and goes back to flickering red.

“I was trying to scan the room for Sumo, but my scanning technology is offline.” Connor grumbles as he shifts from a sitting position to laying on his side, which is much less confident than his usual movement as he lowers his head onto the armrest.

“No shit your scanning tech isn’t working, your eyes aren’t in your head.” Hank says, getting to his feet. “I’ll get the oaf for ya. If you need anything you can just ask, ok?” Hank sees Connor nod weakly as he moves to Sumo’s bed where the big dog was lazily snoozing. He grabs the dog’s bed and drags it across the floor to place it beside the couch, which took some effort, and gently guided Connor’s hand to Sumo’s head. Connor wordlessly starts to stroke the Saint Bernard slowly as Hank plopped back into his chair.

“Only four days, bud. Then you’ll be good as new.”

* * *

Wednesday morning Hank had to go to work, and leaving Connor home alone while he was blind was not going to happen. Luckily Tina was off Wednesday, so now she was hanging out with Connor until Hank got home later in the day.

Currently Tina was splayed out on Hank’s recliner while Connor was sitting on the couch upright. Sumo’s head was flopped on the android’s lap, panting happily while Connor gave him scratches behind the ears. A movie was playing, though Tina was just scrolling through her phone and watching Connor instead of paying attention to the movie, and Connor wasn’t really paying attention to it either. Tina had tried to start up conversation with Connor earlier, though he didn’t seem up to talking. Kid just seemed sad.

It was during one of these somewhat uncomfortable silences when Tina noticed Connor’s eye bandages were getting quite dark. Hank mentioned that his bandages might need a replacement.

“Hey Con-man, I’m gonna have to change your bandages.” She says, standing up and walking over to the couch to sit next to him. She reaches over and picks up the small care kit Hank left for her that was sitting on the coffee table and pops it open while Connor shifts himself to face Tina, careful not to disrupt Sumo with his movements.

“How are you feeling?” She asks, taking out the rolled-up bandages and placing them on the table. She reaches behind his head and starts to slowly undo his bandages.

“It doesn’t hurt that much.” Connor replies.

“That much? Do you need a cool pack or someth-” Tina chokes on her words slightly as she finally removes the bandages from Connor’s face.

It was pretty much what she was expecting, but it still took her by surprise. Connor’s eyes were just gone. The sockets were hollow with small wires lining the sides of the cavities, and the synthetic skin around his eyes was phasing in and out. There weren’t any actual injuries on his face anymore, although small streams of thirium were starting to roll down his cheekbones as a few severed thirium veins were still exposed.

To put it simply, it was unsettling. Also quite creepy.

“Officer Chen?” Connor asks, and Tina snaps back to attention.

“Y-yeah? Oh right, um, did you want an ice pack?” She says, placing the old bandages on the coffee table and unspooling the new bandages. She knew thirium vanished after a few hours, but a continuous stream just made the bandages leaky.

“I apologise if my appearance startled you.” Connor says, his voice apologetic and uncharacteristically quiet. His shoulders slumped slightly, which wasn’t like him at all. His usual perfect demeanor was falling apart, and Tina was not having it.

“Dude, you got your eyes stabbed by an idiot in the street. You do not need to apologise for that.” She reaches over and gives Connor a reassuring shoulder squeeze, and he gives her a small smile in return.

“How about we play a game! Maybe now that you’re not able to scan everything I’ll be able to beat you at chess.” Tina says cheerily, cleaning up the first aid kit.

“I don’t think that’s very fair.” Connor says as Tina walks over to the cabinets at the side of the room, taking out the chess set that Chris had given him after Connor had destroyed every single person and android in the precinct. Chris figured he’d earned it.

“I mean yeah, it’s not fair, but I’m a corrupt person who craves a rematch.” Tina jokes as she sits down across from Connor on the floor.

“I meant that it isn’t fair for you.” Connor says. Tina scoffs overdramatically as she finishes setting up the board.

“You’re about to eat your words.” She teases, her words full of confidence.

Connor told Tina where to move his pieces, and Tina begrudgingly obliged. It was another form of defeat when you checkmate yourself.

“That’s just not possible! You can’t even see!” Tina yells, though she wasn’t upset. She got Connor to smile an actual smile with her silly rants and continuous complaining, which was a win in her book.

* * *

Hank did not want Gavin to be the one taking care of his blind partner for an entire day, so Wilson was over taking care of Connor instead. He was happy to help out since he didn’t have anything planned, which worked out perfectly. Connor now had a small den of sorts on the couch, with easy to access thirium bottles sitting on the coffee table, Sumo’s bed within petting reach, pillows stacked up in a way where he could lay to either side of the couch and either elevate his head or lay on his side. Throw a blanket over top and he had a fort.

Wilson was slaving over stuff to do with Connor, since whenever he asked the android, he’d get the response, ‘What would you like to do?’ since he apparently didn’t want to bother Wilson with any of his requests.

TV was a no, reading was a no, board games were only fun a couple times after playing them, and playing them blind wasn’t as much fun…

“Is there nothing else you want to do?” Wilson asked for easily the fifth time as he paced back and forth across the living room. Connor, who was propped up on the right side of the couch resting his head sideways on a big fluffy pillow, shook his head slightly.

“Nothing comes to mind.” He says, sounding very bored. Wilson sighs a little and continues to wrack his brain for anything he does that doesn’t require sight.

Driving? No, that’s dumb.

Eating? Androids don’t eat food.

Exercise? No, the guy’s injured.

Listening to music?...

“Hey Connor, want to listen to some music?” Wilson asks, hoping to have solved the problem, though Connor’s reply shut him down.

“I’m alright, but if you’d like to then go ahead.”

So not music then.

What else does he do when he’s doing stuff?

A lightbulb might as well have materialised over Wilson’s head as a sudden idea sprung into his mind.

“What about podcasts?”

Connor sits up a little and faces Wilson, a general look of confusion on the lower half of his face.

“I’ve never listened to one before.”

-###-

Hank returned home to see Connor and Wilson both on the couch intently facing a phone that was set on the coffee table. Multiple voices could be heard through the device, and the two listening to the talking didn’t seem to notice Hank walk in.

“Uh, Wilson? Thought I told ya you could get going befo-”

Connor interrupts him with a sharp shush as Wilson slowly stands up from the couch to talk to Hank.

“I introduced him to a couple of my personal favourite podcasts. He’s… quite invested.”

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes.”

“Wilson?” Hank says as the officer strolls past Hank and out the door.

“Wilson you can’t just leave me with him like this!” Hank pleads as Wilson gets into his car.

“Sorry man!” Wilson shouts as he closes the door to his car and pulls out of the driveway.

Hank turns in slight terror and walks over to see what show Connor was listening to.

“Hank, can we please purchase the Dungeons and Dragons starter kit?” He asks, the outro theme of The Adventure Zone playing over his words.

Hank groans.

Fuck Wilson and is uncontrollably nerdy self.

* * *

Connor was getting fed up with not being able to do any work over the last three days, so despite Hank’s continuous cautions against going to work at all, Connor won him over.

“You’re just gonna sit at your desk and do work, alright? Don’t try and walk anywhere. I’m serious.” Hank says as they pull into the station’s parking lot.

“I can interface with my computer in order to get and add data. I don’t need to see my screen for that. There would be no need for me to go anywhere.” Connor responds calmly, though it’s pretty clear that he’s excited to get off the couch for a while. Hank parks the car and helps Connor out of the passenger’s side before walking him into the precinct. As they turn the corner into the bullpen a chorus of friendly welcomes fills the air, and Connor gives a small wave. Hank leads him to his desk and sits him down before going to his own. He pulls out the first aid kit, places a few bottles of thirium on Connor’s desk, making sure Connor hears him when he says where they are, then he leans back in his chair.

A few people come up to Connor to say hello, though after a few minutes they leave him to do some work. He reaches up and takes a moment to find where the terminal is, and once it’s found he connects to it. His LED goes yellow as he receives data from the cases he had been working on, specifically the one on the guy that attacked his eyes. Connor starts to mentally type into his report, which surprisingly works.

Hank unfortunately had to head out on a case, so after double checking that Connor was ok, he heads out with Ben.

About twenty minutes later Tina, who Hank had asked to keep an eye on Connor, notices his bandages darkening. She walks over to Connor and gently places a hand on his shoulder.

“We need to replace your bandages again, bud. Let me walk you to the break room.” She says, reaching across the desk to grab the first aid kit. Connor disconnects from the terminal and lets Tina lead him across the bullpen to the break room. He sits down and Tina starts to replace his bandages. Just as she takes them off completely, they hear someone come into the room.

“Jesus Christ, you look terrible!” Gavin says from the doorway, walking over to the coffee machine. “That’s some horror movie shit. You’re crying fucking blood!” Gavin laughs to himself a little.

“Gavin, seriously? He got slashed across the eyes with a knife for fucks sake!” Tina says, glaring at him.

“Then he should be fucking blind forever! It’s fucking creepy being able to just detach his fucking eyes! He looks horrendous. His fault for getting stabbed.” Gavin retaliates.

Before Tina can say anything Connor pivots ninety degrees to face Gavin in a movement that actually could be out of a horror movie. His hollow eyes bore into Gavin’s face as he speaks.

“Detective Reed, I took down a shoplifter who had over two thousand dollars worth of jewelry in his possession. Would you rather Chris had been the one to take him down, resulting in him permanently losing his vision? The fact that I was the one damaged was very lucky, since I can have parts of my body removed and repaired.” Connor stands up suddenly, making Gavin visibly flinch, before continuing.

“If you don’t mind, Detective, you should be focusing on work instead of insulting an officer who, though blind, has done more work than you this morning. So how about you leave me the fuck alone for once.”

Tina stares wide-eyed at Connor as he calmly sits back down to face her. Gavin says nothing for a few moments before leaving the room without his coffee.

“Jesus Connor, that was badass.” Tina says, unspooling the new bandages. He looks more composed now, a small smile on his face.

“That felt… good. Why did I get so mad at him? He always says that kind of stuff to me.” Connor says, mildly confused.

“Guess your sour mood these last few days built up in you so you released it on Gavin. Way to go, man!” She says, laughing a little.

“I guess so.” Connor smiles. “He’s not going to let me forget that.”

“Nope! Brace yourself.” Tina jokes.

Damn that android was amazing.

* * *

“Ok. On the count of three, open your eyes.”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

Connor opens his newly installed eyes and is greeted with pure darkness. Everything is completely black, save for a few lines of plain white text on the left side of his vision.

_Optical Units reinstalled._

_Optical Thirium Lines reconnected._

_Recalibrating…_

_…_

Connor blinks a few times, the lines of text not leaving his sight, until finally they vanish. There’s a moment of darkness before the entire room comes into view. The sun coming through the windows, the white and bleak recovery room of the AER, the two figures standing in the room with him. Connor was finally able to see for the first time in almost a week.

Though everything was insanely bright. It was like someone upped the exposure on his vision, making it very hard to make out distinct features.

“How’s your vision, Connor?” Hank’s voice comes from the figure to the right. Connor squints in an attempt to make out Hank’s facial features, but to no avail.

“It’s very… bright.” He says, blinking multiple times again.

“Your eyes still need time to readjust to the world around you. It’ll go back to normal in a few hours.” A female voice comes from the figure on the left. “Then you’ll be as good as new!”

“Thanks again… doc? Tech?” Hank says, helping Connor to his feet.

“Either works.” The woman chuckles, leading the two of them to the door. “If there are any further problems call me, alright?”

“For sure.” Hank replies, leading Connor out of the room and down the hallway. They walk for a minute to the car and Hank helps Connor into the passenger seat.

“Do your eyes hurt at all?” Hank asks. Connor takes a moment to answer, as the light from everything was starting to get irritating.

“No, it’s just uncomfortable. I’m just going to keep my eyes closed for now.” He Connor mumbles, letting his eyelids close completely.

“No problem, bud. Just rest easy, then we can get back to work.”

**Author's Note:**

> Blind fic! I just had an eyeless Connor pop into my head and kinda wanted to make it reality. It would be a pretty spooky image, and 'tis the season >:)


End file.
